Second baseman Brad Emaus, who was just returned from the Mets to the Blue Jays under the terms of his Rule 5 status, was traded from Toronto to Colorado for right-hander Chris Malone on Friday.

The Rockies, presumably, will stick Emaus at Triple-A Colorado Springs. Had they wanted him for the major league team, they could have simply claimed him off waivers from the Mets before he was returned to Toronto.

Now that Emaus is no longer on a 40-man roster, he can freely be assigned to the minors. The 25-year-old hit .162/.262/.162 in 37 at-bats for the Mets after winning the team’s second-base job in spring training. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the team decided to instead go with Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner there.

In return for Emaus, the Jays pick up the 27-year-old Malone, who had allowed two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings as a reliever for Double-A Tulsa this season. He had a 4.10 ERA and a 45/27 K/BB ratio in 59 1/3 innings for Tulsa last year, but he is a strong groundball pitcher and the Jays must see something they think he can do better.

Emaus is further insurance for the Rockies in the infield in case they eventually opt to trade Jose Lopez or even Ian Stewart. He’ll likely play mostly second base for Colorado Springs initially.